Trump Pardoned a Venezuelan Banker Weeks After His Family Gave Alina Habba a $50 Million Deal, Times Finds

The New York Times reported Oct. 20, 2026, that Trump pardoned Venezuelan-born banker Julio Herrera Velutini weeks after Herrera's daughter, Isabela, set up a Florida company and offered Alina Habba, then a senior adviser to Attorney General Pam Bondi, a contract guaranteeing her more than $50 million over four years as general counsel. Herrera had pleaded guilty in 2025 to a misdemeanor campaign-finance charge after being accused of bribing a Puerto Rico official to drop a bank probe; Trump pardoned Herrera, that official and a former FBI agent together, shortly before sentencing.

Habba finalized the deal in late 2025 while serving as New Jersey's U.S. attorney and started the job Jan. 1, 2026; Trump granted Herrera's pardon weeks later. Habba said any suggestion her hiring was tied to the pardon is "false," and DOJ said she "did not speak to anyone about a pardon." The Times reports people familiar with her contract believed she was hired to help secure the pardon, though it found no direct evidence.